For centuries, those afflicted with hair loss or baldness have made anguished, but futile searches for a remedy. All sorts of chemical treatments have been tried, without success, to cause hair to grow where it has failed to grow. In recognition of the futility of this approach, efforts have been expanded to provide suitable methods for covering bald spots or areas of the scalp by transplanting hair in bald areas of the scalp or by attaching hair or artificial pieces to the scalp.
An example of the former method is the punch autograph technique wherein grafts containing hair follicles are removed from a donor site and placed in the hairless recipient area. While this technique has shown promise as it has been refined, complications, such as syncope, bleeding, edema, infection, and scarring still occur with an unacceptable frequency,
A method which combines the concept of implantation with the use of artificial hair is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,003,155 issued to F. C. Mielzynski et al in October, 1961. This method was also plagued with dart rejection and infection problems.
The closest prior art known to me is contained in U.S. Pat. No. 3,553,737 issued to Jack Bauman in January of 1971. This patent discloses and claims a method of applying hair to the scalp of a human being which utilizes the latter approach mentioned above.
The "737" patent discloses the use of a continuous teflon-coated wire suture embedded into the scalp in an "in-and-out" technique which forms anchor points at the surface of the scalp where the suture breaks the surface at acute angles. A woven grid used to retain hair tufts or flags is subsequently attached to the anchor points.
Hairpieces attached to the scalp in accordance with the teachings of the "737" patent are known to be quite permanent. However, stresses imparted to the scalp by tension and/or wind frictional forces tend to induce painful sensations in the scalp and ultimately lead to complications such as bleeding and infection.
These problems are attributed to the fact that the Bauman method utilizes a multiplicity of skin punctures at acute angles to the surface of the skin for the purpose of embedding the wire in the skin. Bauman apparently failed to recognize the potential for and protect against continuous tears of the skin when stress is applied to the suture running through the punctures which form slits in the skin along cleavage lines of the scalp. Punctures at the acute angles to the cleavage lines tend to exacerbate the problem attendant to the insertion of a foreign material in the scalp and preclude complete healing of the skin about the suture material.